Blah...no snow day. Annoying.

Now to be positive, I had a great victory last night. Stephen wanted to go out to eat for dinner. We almost never go out to eat during the week but he'd been thinking about it all day so out we went. He was wanting a hamburger so we went to bar/brewery type restaurant. Stephen wanted to share an appetizer so we got a cheese dip thing (was supposed to be spinach cheese dip but it was pretty much just a cheese dip) with chips and flatbread to share. It wasn't a huge appetizer at all but after we finished eating it and were going to order our entrees, I realized I wasn't hungry at all. I already had picked out what I wanted to eat but when the waitress came by I didn't order anything. And when Stephen got his food, I ate 3 or 4 croutons off his salad but that was it. No bite of his burger and he even offered to give me half but I just wasn't hungry. Normally I would have ordered something on my own or eaten half of his burger but I'm really trying to listen to my body lately and it was saying that it wasn't hungry. And I didn't get hungry later on in the evening. I did eat a small peanut butter cookie from a batch I was making for work but that was b/c I felt the need for something sweet before going to bed.

I've noticed since I started doing my early morning workouts that during the mornings I'm much hungrier than I am at night. So I've been having a substantial breakfast (with my pre-workout granola bar, close to 600 calories), a 10 am snack (around 200 cals), a substantial lunch (400-500 calories) and then at dinner I've only been eating around 300 calories simply because I'm not that hungry. I also usually have something sweet a couple of hours after dinner for around 200 calories. This seems to be working really well for me. I don't like feeling stuffed when I go to sleep and since I'm burning more calories in the morning (by workouts or running or both) it makes sense to fuel my body the most during those hours. Anyway, just an observation.

It's Snowing!!

Yep, it's snowing in DC! We've had a few flurries so far this season but this is the first snowfall that is actually sticking to the ground. It's so pretty!! Tonight it's supposed to change to ice/freezing rain so we might get a snow day tomorrow (fingers crossed). If it's just snowing at lunch then I'm going to head out for a run...I love running when it's snowing. It feels like I'm in a snowglobe...love it!!

Enough with the gushing about snow (I'm sure you Canadians think I'm nuts to be so excited over snow)...I did a yoga exercise from our video on demand service this morning. Um, I'm not flexible at all!! All the flexibility I used to have from doing yoga 5 years ago is completely gone. Definitely something to keep working on. The exercise I did was just a 10 minute Morning Yoga routine so it was a lot of good stretching and nothing too strenous. I liked the instructor too. I have a yoga DVD with Denise Austin and I do not like the way she instructs...she tells you what to do after she's already started doing it and then I feel behind. I like it when you get the instructions slightly before the instructor starts doing the moves so you know what's next. Anyways, this morning's yoga was perfect after my time on the elliptical. I still want to do the Shred this week and right now have it planned for Thursday morning but if we have a snow day tomorrow I might do it then.

Well, I'm tired today (Stephen kept getting up during the night which in turn wakes me up) so I think an extra cup of coffee is in order. Off to walk in the snow to Starbucks!! I might even go a little crazy and put some sugar free vanilla syrup into my black coffee to celebrate the snow. Madness I tell ya, absolute madness.

A screen filled weekend

We watched a lot of TV and movies this weekend. Stephen was sick and didn't feel like doing anything (totally understandable) so I rented us a few movies and we watched Netflix. Since Friday morning, here's what we watched:



Rentals

Rambo--lots of gore, my least favorite of everything

The Cleaner--pretty good, Stephen was not a fan

August--dumb, neither one of us liked it

Bangkok Dangerous--pretty good, my favorite of the 4 rentals



Netflix

4 episodes of JAG: Season 1

3 episodes of Las Vegas: Season 2



Movie Theatre

Gran Torino--good. In the beginning I didn't think I was going to like it but it is a good movie. Not as good as Slumdog Millionaire which is my absolute favorite so far this year. But Gran Torino is excellent.



TV--lots of random shows and movies...nothing too exciting.



Stephen and I were both so sick of watching a screen that last night we read for an hour instead of watching TV like we usually do. Of course, working out was nonexistent this weekend and my eating wasn't good but that's changing today.



I found out that since we now have digital cable, there are free exercise videos on demand. They even have the Jillian Micheals 30 day Shred that everyone's raving about. I hope to try out Shred and a few of the yoga ones later in the week.



Anyways, that was my boring and uneventful weekend. Hopefully, it's the last sick weekend we have this winter. Off to catch up on ya'lls more exciting weekends...

Smorgasbord

Whew! It's been a while. To catch you up on what I've been doing...last weekend was Stephen and my birthdays celebration. We had a great time being out of town for a couple of days and enjoyed eating at one of our favorite restaurants, Firebirds. On my birthday (Sunday) we ordered breakfast room service (I have always wanted to eat breakfast room service and now I have!), sat in the hot tub and just took our time getting ready and driving back to DC. Traffic was not bad at all...which was a pleasant surprise!

Monday and Tuesday we had off as federal holidays so we hung out. We weren't too productive but it was nice to be able to relax. We actually didn't even watch any of the inauguration stuff...I'm sure Obama is going to be a good president but living in DC for 3 years and hearing about politics 24/7 has made me so apathetic. And I'm sick of people thinking he's going to be a great president because he's black. It is wonderful that we have a president who is not a white male but just because he's black doesn't mean he'll be a good president. I'm waiting to see what he actually accomplishes before calling him a success. Anyways, I get annoyed when fitness/weight loss bloggers get all political so I'll stop there.

Wednesday and Thursday were work as usual. Definitely nothing exciting there. Oh, wait there was something exciting...I got a space heater for my office and let me tell you, it is wonderful!! I'm careful to turn it off and hide it before I leave everyday (since space heaters are prohibited). It is amazing to be able to be at work and not be covered up in blankets, sweaters and scarves!! I love it very much and wish I had been a rule breaker earlier!

Now to today...Stephen's sick (again). He woke up in the middle of the night throwing up and was up about every hour after that. When he wasn't throwing up, I was lying awake waiting for him to start again. I am exhausted. And I'm sure he's even more exhausted. So I stayed home with him today since he couldn't even sit up for two minutes without getting sick...there's no way he could take care of himself. I picked up some movies for him to watch and some soup and Gatorade. He just had the flu 2 weeks ago and here we are again. No idea what's wrong...we've both had flu shots but we're throwing away all of our peanut butter and PB items just in case they're part of the salmonella scare...we checked and they're not but after this second round of stomach stuff, we're just being cautious.

Well, Stephen thinks he keep some food down now so I'm going to make him lunch, scrub our apartment down with bleach to kill those nasty germs, and wash the sheets/bedding.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Oh, and I'm loving Jen and Cat's fashion and beauty posts!! Even more reason to love Fridays!!

Finally Friday!

So glad its Friday!! And the Friday before a 4 day weekend (living in DC, federal employees get inauguration day off as well as MLK day)!! DC is going to be nuts this weekend. Stephen and I are headed out of town for Saturday and Sunday...its our birthdays (his last weekend, mine this weekend) celebration. Other than that, we have no big plans besides not driving or riding the Metro on inauguration day.

I went for a run yesterday at lunch...let me tell you, there have been few times when I've regretted going for a run and yesterday was one of them. The temperature itself wasn't so bad but the wind was horrendous. I did about 4 miles and called it good. I'm not going today since it's even colder but next week the temps are supposed to be back up to around 30 degrees. I did go to the gym this morning so missing my run isn't a big deal. Plus with all the prep for inauguration going on, the area where I run is going to be filled with barricades and people and vehicles getting ready for Tuesday.

I did it!

I did it! I ran at lunch yesterday!! However, for the first time since we've lived at our current apartment, I did not get up to workout this morning. I've been incredibly tired this week and needed the extra hour and a half of sleep. I am going to run at lunch again today (and it's even colder than yesterday) and I may try to make it the gym this afternoon/evening to get in some time on the elliptical.

We're having a cookie party tomorrow for someone's last day at work so I'll make a deal with myself that I can only have a cookie tomorrow if I do both my lunchtime run and a 30 minute workout this evening. Alright, it's a deal.

Speaking of cold weather running, I got to open my birthday present from Stephen last week even though my birthday isn't until this Sunday. He wanted me to go ahead and open it so if it was the wrong size we could send it back to exchange. He got me this North Face vest to wear when I'm running! I got the blue color. It's fantastic!! I love how it's got lots of pockets to stash my phone, ID, jelly beans (for long runs), and other stuff in it!! And it fits perfectly! I wanted a vest to wear when running and I would have never spent that kind of money on one for myself so I'm glad Stephen got it for me! So exciting! I've asked for some other running stuff from sister so I hope she listens and gets me the things I've asked for...both her and my mom like to get me knick-knack type stuff and I have nowhere to put that stuff and I'd rather have something I can actually use than something that's going to gather dust.

Interview

My interview went well. They've already contacted me again and asked if they can check my references and speak with my supervisor so that's a good sign. Honestly though, I'm not crazy about the job. It's a LOT of programming and programming is the thing I hate the most about my current job. Even though I'm not sure I would even accept the job if it was offered (jumping way ahead), I'm going to go ahead and tell them that they may contact my references/supervisor. Who knows what things are going to be like at my current job in a few weeks and I don't want to close the door on a possible job yet (even if it's a job I'm not crazy about). I need to keep my options open right now.

Other than that, it is soo cold here. I AM still going for a run today at lunch (I have to keep telling myself that...I chickened out on Monday). I also need to get a space heater for my office. They're forbidden but it's ridiculously cold in my office...I stay bundled up in one or two thick sweaters and a scarf, sit as curled up as possible, and wrap a thick blanket around my legs every day just to feel like I can function enough to get something done. And that is ridiculous! So I'm going to be a rule-breaker and get a space heater this weekend. I'm done with purple fingernails and goose bumps all day long.

I AM going to run at lunch. I AM going to run at lunch. I AM going to run at lunch. (Just reminding myself!!)